German police raid Deutsche Bank in money laundering probe

Leticia Stanley |Thursday, November 29, 2018

Deutsche Bank offices raided in connection with Panama Papers

"Prosecutors are investigating two employees of the bank who allegedly assisted customers in setting up offshore firms to avoid anti-money laundering safeguards when transferring money to accounts at Deutsche Bank".

Around 170 police officers, prosecutors and tax inspectors took part in the searches which saw written and electronic documents seized, the Frankfurt prosecutor's officesaid.

The papers were from the Panamanian law firm Massack Fonseca, reported to be one of the world's biggest creators of shell companies.

Speaking about the latest investigation, a Deutsche Bank spokesman said: 'Of course, we will cooperate closely with the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt, as it is in our interest as well to clarify the facts'.

"Money obtained illegally may have been transferred to accounts at Deutsche Bank, which failed to report the suspicions that the accounts may have been used to launder money", it reported.

It is also alleged that Deutsche Bank employees breached their duties by neglecting to report money launder suspicions about clients and offshore companies involved in tax evasion schemes. At the time, Deutsche Bank severed ties with a Cypriot lender partly owned by VTB Group that was identified in the reporting.

The bank's shares dropped by 2.7 percent on news of the investigation.

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In 2016 alone, more than 900 customers were served by a Deutsche Bank subsidiary registered in the British Virgin Islands, generating a volume of €311m, the prosecutors allege.

The investigation was triggered after investigators reviewed so-called "Offshore-Leaks" and "Panama Papers", the prosecutor said.

Deutsche Bank has been sanctioned in the past for failing to tackle money laundering.

Several banks, including the Swedish lenders Nordea and Handelsbanken have already been fined by financial regulators for violating money laundering rules as a result of the Panama Papers.

Without providing details about the inquiry, Deutsche Bank stated, "The investigation has to do with the Panama Papers case". He has also alleged that family members of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's spy agency were using the bank for money laundering.

Deutsche Bank has spent more than $18 billion paying fines and settling legal disputes since the start of 2008, according to company disclosures compiled by Bloomberg News. FWIW: Deutsche has been rocked by problems and was the only major global bank to do business with Trump in recent years.

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